Kantara is the easternmost of three Pentadyktylos castles. Originally merely one of their strategical lookouts, the Byzantines developed it into an impressive castle during the 12th century. Its first written mention dates from 1191: Off Limmassol, a storm sank the convoy of the ship transporting Berengaria of Navarre, Richard I the Lionheart's fiancée. She chose to remain aboard her vessel, which had remained intact, since the castaways who had gone ashore met with hospitality of the dubious kind. When Richard I eventually arrived, he captured Limassol and married Bengaria there. Cyprus' defeated emperor, Isaak Komnenos, sought refugee in Kantara Castle from where he organized his resistance. From 1192, when they bought Cyprus from Richard I, until long past the island's conquest by the Genoese, Lusignans continued to be the landlords of Kantara Castle, which they altered in 1391. By 1562, the castle was in ruins.

What meant excellent strategical position then, spells magificent seting today. Surrounded by woods amidst a steep terrain, and only accessible from the East, Kantara offers great views and more than enough traces of mediaval castle architecture for a chivalrous travel through time.